Saturday, January 24, 2009

Tyrel's Mom Is How Old?

It was an eventful week at our house. Most historic was Amy’s 25th birthday. I signed a contract limiting any further comments about this event. This contract does not forbid the use of a snappy post title. Someone forgot to read the fine print.

Saturday was Tyrel's day- all day. We started the day bright and early with the ever popular Pinewood Derby race. These past few weeks we have held intermittent building episodes. Erin, was insistent that she get to build a car too. When the dust settled from our craftiness we had two distinct and unusual cars. I felt lucky that we escaped this event making only 2 cars with no last minute catastrophes; last year Erin dropped Tyrel’s finished car the day before the race.

So the Cub Scouts raced away and a good time was had by all. It wasn’t until after the race that I realized I had not used graphite on Tyrel’s car. We weren’t sure where he placed but we do know he won some races and lost 2.

We had barely recovered from Pinewood Derby when mania when it was time for basketball. Tyrel and the Bolts played to have fun. It is funny to see how each boy perceives the progress of the game. One boy had played the entire game up to that point (nearly half-time) and had made several points (no passes, just points). With 9 players on the team it is a bit of a juggling act to see that they each get equal playing time. It was time for this boy to come out. Curious and maybe a bit frustrated he asked, “Why did you take me out? I was doing good!” Another boy announced to me after 2 consecutive sprints up and down the court that he was ready to come out. He promptly exited the court, sat down, and started swilling Gatorade from his sports bottle. Yet another player told me of his problem- everyone would run to him when he had the ball and he couldn’t “…shoot or nothing.” My favorite is the little player who always rushes to take the ball out of bounds after the other team scores but will only pass to you if you agree to pass it right back to him. This all reinforces the fact that basketball is indeed just a game.

Finally, there is our weather issue. The typical January thaw has extended itself to the point where I now have spring fever. A couple of days this week it has nearly reached the 50’s followed by rain Thursday and Friday. Here is to hoping for more rain but knowing it will probably be snow by morning.